have you ever been stuck without a menora? what did you do?

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Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Chanukah

Have you ever been stuck without a menora? what did you do?

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Raisin

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:14 pm

Anyone here ever been stuck without a menora, maybe while travelling, or because of bad weather?

what were your creative solutions?

saw50st8

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:15 pm

Tea lights.

We also go those flimsy menorahs from Chabad. They are pretty awesome :-)

aidelmaidel

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:16 pm

I second the tea lights. take out the wax and use the wick and tin to hold the oil.

DONE.

Or just fill a glass with water and then add oil on top. Smile

Raisin

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:18 pm

soprry, no tealights allowed in my scenario. there is a huge snowstorm outside and none of the shops near you have any sort of candles. Or you are in an airport or train station.

mom4life

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:20 pm

I haven't been but I would do what I do for shabbos chanuka (because the candles have the last longer)

I use shabbos candles on a piece of foil on a flat plate (I melt them onto the foil so they don't fall). Set the candles up in a straight row and the shammas on the side. Of course this means I'm even more careful to watch them.

Raisin

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:20 pm

aidelmaidel wrote:

I second the tea lights. take out the wax and use the wick and tin to hold the oil.

DONE.

Or just fill a glass with water and then add oil on top. Smile

a regular drinking glass? it won't crack?

freidasima

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:26 pm

stuck candles in half potatoes cut flat.

aidelmaidel

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:28 pm

Raisin wrote:

aidelmaidel wrote:

I second the tea lights. take out the wax and use the wick and tin to hold the oil.

DONE.

Or just fill a glass with water and then add oil on top. Smile

a regular drinking glass? it won't crack?

My milchig glasses are very thick. The licht don't have to be lit very long (an hour?). And unless the wick is near the edge they generally won't crack.

There's a children's book by Hachai called Nine Spoons about how a group of children in a concentration camp were able to make a menorah from nine spoons. I believe it's based on a true story.

So you could use any object that can safely hold the oil.

Hatzlacha!

aidelmaidel

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:28 pm

freidasima wrote:

stuck candles in half potatoes cut flat.

louche

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 3:29 pm

The college guy's favorite, aka The Snapple (or Coke) Bottle Solution:

Nine empty Coke or Snapple bottles, filled almost to the top with water; Bobby pins or paper clips; cotton twine or absorbent cotton twisted tightly, oil;matches.

1. Buy Snapple in bulk on sale. Save bottles under the bed or in closet. Wash first unless you like roaches. line bottles up in a straight row. Place the leftmost one on a small square of wood or something to raise it up a bit.
2. Pour oil into bottles; it will float on the surface of the water. Olive oil is best, but Crisco is cheaper. Just don't use kerosene. Oil from your face will work but is not acceptable. Oil drained from pizza will work but is also frowned upon.
3. Twist wire from paper clip or bobby pin around short pieces of thick cotton twine or absorbent cotton. Dip wicks in oil, then lay wire across mouth of bottle.
4. Run down the hall to see if anyone has matches or a cigarette lighter.

Depressed

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 4:21 pm

Same thing DH is doing rt now, buy 8 jars of beechnut peaces or applesauce or blueberry cobbler, eat them, fill jar half water, then oil, then floating wick....VOILLA...

chocolate moose

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 4:32 pm

A friend in Machon Chana used shot glasses. Held enough oil to burn all night !!!

MommyZ

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 4:38 pm

Until DH got his father's hand-me-down silver menorah after fil got a much larger menorah he improvised b/c his Bar Mitzvah menorah isn't safe for oil. He used beer bottles, shot glasses, and different things he found in dollar stores.

mha3484

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 4:39 pm

A friend of mine uses shot glasses filled with oil when she has sleepover guests for shabbos. If it works for that I cant see why it wont work for channukah also.

elaela

Wed, Dec 01 2010, 5:48 pm

freidasima wrote:

stuck candles in half potatoes cut flat.

thats what I thought of. potaties!
there was a mushel about the russian jewish student who lived during communism in a dorm in russia and he couldnt light a menorah, cos that would tell he is jewish and it was dangerous... he used potatoes, put small wholes in them filled tghem with oil and lit it. some other student saw it and told the dorm mother...he was kicked out of university cos of his jewishness. it is asumed, that a jewish colleque told on him, cos the probablity that a non jewish student would understand that the potatos are a menorah, is quite small...

Mrs Bissli

Thu, Dec 02 2010, 4:37 pm

potatoes.... wouldn't that be considered bizui mitzva, the same category as egg shells or lemon peel etc?

ysydmom

Thu, Dec 02 2010, 5:11 pm

Potatoes! they were used during ww2 as well for Menorahs and in Russia in sybiria! Read the holocaust stories about chanukah.

did you try plain candles and tin foil? You can also use bolts as in nuts and bolts - that's what they use in the schools.

busydev

Thu, Dec 02 2010, 5:13 pm

my dh says some of his friends used the bottoms of soda cans. put oil and floating wicks into the concave bottom of soda cans. line them up. viola!

koolmother

Thu, Dec 02 2010, 5:44 pm

we went away for shabbos to hotel and had the oil cups...........so we put them in beer bottles and lined them up straight

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